Preventing Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Workplace

When we think of workplace injuries, we often think of gruesome scenarios like workers falling from scaffolding or losing a finger in a machine. Even if you don’t work around saw blades, drill bits, and pneumatic presses, you may be exposed to serious injury hazards from lifting, pushing, pulling, repeated bending motions, and unnatural body positions.

Injuries from these types of activities are referred to as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). According to a study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from 2013, musculoskeletal disorders (which are most often caused by ergonomic risk factors) accounted for “33% of all worker injury and illness cases” and are typically responsible for 30% of workers compensation costs.

An MSD typically affects the muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, or joints. Some examples of common ergonomic injuries include:

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Tennis elbow

Trigger finger

Ganglion Cysts

Raynaud’s Syndrome (“White finger”)

Lower back pain

Spine disc/nerve injuries

There are two types of risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders; task/job risk factors and individual risk factors. Task- or job-related MSD risk factors include exertion/force, repetition, and posture. Individual risk factors include fitness, fatigue, rest/recovery, nutrition, hydration, and health habits. Ergonomics is the field of study that prevents these types of injuries by eliminating or reducing these risk factors.

The first step is to review your injury experience to determine how frequently workers experience injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, or joints caused by lifting, pushing, pulling, repeated bending motions, and unnatural body positions. If a meaningful trend is identified from this review, the next step is to establish a formal Ergonomic Program. The purpose of an Ergonomic Program is to create, implement, and manage an Ergonomic Plan. An Ergonomic Program typically consists of: team formation; work culture assessment; methodical hazard identification; management of the hazard elimination and control process; and follow up.

Identifying Ergonomics Problems

A critical step in building your ergonomic plan is to assess your injuries for previous MSD cases and look for any obvious patterns. Useful patterns are likely to be related to task, activity, injured body part or cumulative development. If 30% of your workers report having the same injury or issues with specific machines or jobs, it makes sense to focus on those areas.

Once you have a list of potential problems, it is time to observe how the job or task is being performed. Evaluating individual workers that experience similar issues can help narrow down the problem. This step also allows you to identify posture, exertion, or repetition factors that task performers may take for granted or not understand as hazard exposures. Common data points to include in an ergonomics assessment include: weight lifted, height or distance of load movement, frequency of lift/movement, grip force, task zone height or distance from the body.

By demonstrating an interest in the performance of the job you will increase employee hazard awareness and encourage early reporting of MSD discomfort or ‘at risk’ conditions. Your observations combined with data from your task/job study and injury experience will provide a meaningful and accurate representation of the physical stresses your workers face and allow you to focus your attentions on the right issues. Nothing is worse than solving a minor problem while allowing a serious concern to fester.

Controlling Hazards

The key to preventing an MSD is to fit the task to the worker. The emphasis is on reducing sources of fatigue, repetitive exertion, and straining from manual load handling or awkward positions. The key factors to consider are weight, the force required to move an object, the force required to push/pull, turn, or twist and the frequency of the movement. Environmental factors such as noise, lighting/illumination, temperature, and air quality also play a role in stress or fatigue reduction.

Controlling MSD hazards usually increases the efficiency of a workstation so it often results in improvements in productivity and quality as well. Below are three methods of handling any hazards discovered after analyzing current working conditions. They each vary in their effectiveness and should be selected based on the type of hazard being controlled. Before implementing any solution, all methods should be evaluated based on which provides the best ergonomics for your workers. Every industry will experience different risks and efficiency levels but this presentation has a very comprehensive list of control method examples listed by specific trades.

Engineering Controls: These are physical changes to workspaces. Examples of this include moving equipment around to minimize repetitive turning, bending, or lifting. Here are some simple examples.

One example is to move a box stacking point three feet away from the conveyor discharge point. This change forces an employee to reach the stacking point by taking two or three steps instead twisting to stack the box on the pallet.

Another example is to use a self-leveling platform that adjusts height automatically to eliminate bending. Adjustment is typically made as weight is added or removed from the platform. Adjustment is typically made by hydraulic, pneumatic, or spring devices.

A final example is either using a mechanical lifting arm to reduce the potential for accidental contact or installing devices such as lifts to prevent strenuous lifting by workers.

Administrative and Work Practice Controls: These controls use methods, processes and/or procedures which help establish a baseline level of effectiveness are added to company standard operating procedures. Some companies accomplish this by establishing rotating schedules to minimize continual exertion of all workers or assigning leads to manage periodic breaks between scheduled ones. Here are some simple examples:

Workforce training to understand MSD as well as ergonomic hazards and controls.

Elimination of repetition, increased cycle times, and use of different body movements through-

Job rotations and

Use of micro breaks

Job enlargement to include more tasks as a way of eliminating repetition and increasing cycle time and use of different body movements.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): This is clothing, and other garments, worn to protect the person wearing them from injury or infection. Some examples of PPE include knee pads, lumbar back support, and wearable back support.

Implementation

Whether your workplace requires new equipment, new work practices, or a new arrangement, the process by which you implement these things will have a direct effect on their success. There are three important aspects to consider when launching any new program:

Do your workers understand the issue you’re trying to address, why it matters to them, and, most importantly, why you believe a new procedure or piece of equipment is going to help? Clearly articulate the issues you’ve noticed and explain how the changes address them.

How much input do the workers themselves have? Valuable intelligence comes from listening to workers closest to the day-to-day action. If you’ve followed the previous step, your workers should understand what you’re seeing. Perhaps they have advice and experience that can inform your new procedures. Are you tapping that resource or are you going to drop yet another top-down directive that lands with minimal buy-in from the people it’s supposed to be helping?

How will new equipment and procedures be communicated to your workers? Are they going to show up on Monday and find new gear sitting on top of a one-page memo? Broadcasting changes early and talking about them before and after a roll out is a great way to follow the previous two steps, as well as be sure your entire workforce is on the same page. Think about hosting group training sessions or shift briefings; face to face communication shows a commitment to the new program and invites a feeling dialogue that goes beyond emails or flyers tacked up on bulletin boards.

Regardless of the ergonomic issues you’re facing, ORR Safety experts are here to help in whatever way you need, whether it’s advice on the right PPE for your workplace or a friendly third party to assist with a hazard assessment. They have years of experience and are happy to help you find the best solutions to any safety concerns. We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you have, either by phone or the form on this page.